Damon Albarn, The Lonely Island and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to join cast of Deltron 3030 album

It’s an ensemble seemingly put together by flicking through the pages of a phone book and choosing names at random: Damon Albarn, parody group The Lonely Island, and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, along with a host of others, will feature on the new Deltron 3030 album, Event II.

Del the Funky Homosapien- who collaborated with Albarn on the first Gorillaz record- has reunited with Kid Koala and Dan The Automator to revivify Deltron 3030, the last outing of which came with their eponymous 2000 début.

Albarn, Samberg et al., and JGL join an inexplicable roll call of contributing artists that also includes Faith No More‘s Mike Patton and Rage Against The Machine vocalist Zack de la Rocha, with Jamie Cullum bringing up the rear on album closer ‘Do You Remember.’

In a press release for the record, Del- born Teren Delvon Jones- saw a hyper-technological dystopia as the conceptual backdrop for Event II, and told of his ambition to be ”as literary as possible while dealing with a musical format.” Critics should be wary of categorising it merely as a hip hop album: “t’s more like a rock opera, but using rap,” he said.

The cast list has even more eclectic stories behind it, as Albarn has reportedly found time to finish a solo album and join his former bandmates for more Blur material, while The Lonely Island teamed up with hip hop star of 2012 Kendrick Lamar and cameo man-of-the-moment Pharrell “ft. Pharrell Williams” Williams for their most recent LP The Wack Album. Patton, meanwhile, has been lending his talents to film scores.

Event II will be released on Bulk Recordings on 1 October- check out the JGL-narrated trailer here- while a three track EP City Rising From The Ashes will drop on 13 August. Listen to the eponymous cut, featuring background vocals from Patton, and see the Event II tracklisting, below.

Deltron 3030: Event II

1. Stardate
2. The Return
3. Pay the Price
4. Nobody Can
5. Lawnchair Quarterback Pt. 1
6. Melding of the Minds
7. The Agony
8. Back in the Day
9. Talent Supersedes
10. Look Across the Sky
11. The Future of Food
12. My Only Love
13. What Is This Loneliness
14. Lawnchair Quarterback Pt. 2
15. City Rising From the Ashes
16. Do You Remember